One Fake Date
by pyr0technic
Summary: All Misty wanted to do was let Georgio down easy, without sounding absolutely pathetic at the same time. Of course, what better way was there than to pretend to date her long-time-no-see best friend and crush? The answer was many. Pokeshipping.
1. You're in Trouble Now

**Title: **One Fake Date  
**Warnings: **This fic is crack on a stick. This is meant to be taken lightly, though the characters will be very much in character.  
**Disclaimer: **Don't own Pokemon, neither the cliche of fake dating.  
**Notes: **Saddle up for a good romantic comedy. The chapters will be short and sweet, and hopefully none too many.  
**Thanks to: **OFFAFA tumblr for inspiration.

.&.

* * *

1.— You're in Trouble Now

Normally, Misty wouldn't be stuck sitting in the old pathetic excuse for an office that resided in the Cerulean City gym, and doing paperwork at that. Unfortunately, every single one of her sisters were gone as of today (including Tracey), and she was stuck with taking up challenges and filling out all of the nonsense paperwork.

_I really do need an assistant or something..._

She sighed and slammed her forehead to the desk.

"Ringringring! Ringringring! Phonecall, phonecall!"

Misty sat back up in resignation to pull out her cellphone. She frowned at her screen, which displayed the glowing words: "unknown number." Hopefully it wouldn't be another stupid marketing call...

"Hello?" Misty answered.

_"Uh... um... hi. I-I'm speaking to-to Misty, right?"_

Misty raised an eyebrow at the strange, oddly familiar voice. Interest now present, she stood from her desk to sit on the ledge.

"Yes. Who is this?"

_"It's... um. Georgio. Do you... remember me?"_

Georgio, Georgio... Oh yeah!

She remembered the boy who had come to challenge her last month. She also remembered the humiliation she had suffered under his, Casey, and Psyduck's (figurative) hands.

"Yeah..." she replied dubiously, already feeling the heat invade her face at the memory.

_"Oh okay, good. I'm outside the gym right now, mind if I come in?"_

"No problem..."

She hung up before giving the phone a strange look. Why in the world did he feel the need to call her beforehand? And what was he doing here in the first place?

_Oh, Mew, I hope he doesn't end up challenging me again..._

A few moments later, she heard the doors to the gym pool creak open. She exited her office and indeed, found Georgio, the one and only she had faced in battle mere weeks ago.

The first thing she noticed was that he looked... nice.

Georgio donned a button-up and dark jeans, with his hair cut stylishly. What threw the entire image off was the way he kept nervously fidgeting with his fingers and biting his lip.

"Hi, Georgio." Misty, realizing he wasn't about to talk anytime soon, spoke first. "It's been a while."

"Y-Yeah," he replied, starting a nervous laugh. It trailed off into an awkward silence.

Misty glanced around, suddenly feeling awkward herself. "Um, so... do you... need something?"

"No!" he hastily said. Then backtracking, "I mean, yes... but... er, let me explain... last time, I..."

_Oh no._

Georgio's reason for visiting suddenly became very, very clear.

"Look, Georgio, I... really appreciate the gesture, but -"

"Wait," Georgio cut in firmly. Misty glanced up, surprised, and was forced to gaze in awe as he seemed to finally gather himself. "Let me speak. Things have changed, since last time... for me, at least. And I don't know if that's the same for you, but I really just... want you to reconsider."

"You know my answer already, Georgio," Misty told him, brow crinkling sympathetically. "I've just... been really busy at the gym..."

"I could become your assistant! And I... that way, we could be together all the time! You wouldn't have to cut time out of your schedule or anything like that!"

_Damn. He really thought this out._

Misty cringed, realizing she was cornered. She racked her mind for a possible excuse, realizing that Georgio wasn't going to let go easily.

"Is there a reason you wouldn't consider me? Is it because of how I look? Or how I -"

"No, none of that!" Misty shook her head at Georgio's ridiculous musings. "It's just that... well..."

At that moment, something seemed to click in Georgio's mind. Blue eyes widened, he fixed his gaze on Misty's panicked face. "Is there someone else?"

At that point, denial wasn't an option.

"I guess so..." Misty dropped her gaze to the floor and felt the blood rise to her cheeks at the thought of her "someone else."

Georgio nodded sympathetically. "It's okay, Misty, I totally understand. Unrequited love, right? It's a pain. I guess... we're alike, in that way..."

And suddenly, Misty heard the hope return to his voice.

_Oh no, no, no, no, no!_

"No, it's not like that!" Misty quickly defended, waving her hands in denial.

There was a moment of silence as Georgio simply stared at her. Misty's cheeks were puffed up indignantly, and what she said only seemed to hit her a moment later.

"I mean... there's someone else, yes, but we're... already dating, y'see! That's why I... can't accept your offer." Misty exhaled a huge sigh of relief, realizing that she had finally found the perfect excuse.

Georgio, meanwhile, seemed let down - but he seemed to accept her answer.

"Alright, I can respect that. He's... a lucky man."

_A lucky man... Haven't I heard those exact words before?_

"Yeah..." Misty trailed off, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable with the lie she had told. This was beginning to sound more and more like a bad idea...

"Can I ask who it is?" Georgio smiled half-heartedly. Misty almost admired the way he smiled so bravely in the face of rejection.

Unfortunately, she had another dilemma.

_What am I supposed to say!? I can't sound too suspicious, or everything I did up to this point will be a waste!_

And then, the Cerulean Gym's PC went off.

"Ringringring! Ringringring! Phonecall, phonecall!"

_Thank everything that is holy and above._

"Gotta take that call real quick, if you don't mind!" Misty managed a brief sheepish smile before hightailing over to the screen and answering the call. Casey's smiling face flashed on the screen, giving Misty quite the surprise.

_First Georgio, now Casey... I'm getting a strange sense of Deja Vu._

"Hey there, Misty!" Casey's blue pigtails swayed as waved energetically with a bright grin. "It's so great to see ya!"

Misty smiled warmly. "Yeah, hi Casey! How've you been?"

Casey rolled her eyes. "Yeah, fine, fine. We saw each other last month! I didn't call you to catch up or anything ridiculous like that."

"Gee, how foolish of me to think so," Misty replied flatly, aiming a glare at the camera.

Casey seemed oblivious to the glare. Instead, her bright grin morphed into a slightly more devilish one. "So, I was on my journey and all, right? And I ran into Tracey!"

"Tracey?" Misty repeated. That was odd. Tracey hadn't been at the gym for days, saying Professor Oak had assigned him to some sort of... oh.

_Of course. Probably off studying Johto pokemon or something._

"So _anyway_," Casey continued impatiently, "We caught up and stuff at the Pokemon Center, and guess what he tells me! You and _Ashy-boy_ had a little something going on!"

Misty held back the yelp that rose to her throat at Casey's loud declaration. "Casey, shush! That's not true!"

"Heh, sure it isn't!" Casey smirked confidently, crossing her arms across her chest. "He told me the whole thing. What was that chick's name again? Melanie?"

"Casey." Misty growled under gritted teeth, glare growing exponentially more murderous. "Shut. _I__t_."

And yet again, Misty's obvious murderous rage went unnoticed by Casey. Instead, she seemed to notice something else behind Misty.

"Say, who is that awkwardly lurking behind us for the past five minutes anyway?" Casey wondered, pointing to a spot behind Misty's head. She whirled around to face none other than a sheepish looking Georgio, who sprung back at the attention.

"Ah, s-sorry! I was just a little curious..." he defended whilst scratching his head.

Misty glared her most murderous glare, feeling herself _boil_ with anger. How could he eavesdrop when - when they were talking about -

"So this... 'Ashy-boy' is who you're dating, Misty?" Georgio questioned innocently.

Casey started laughing in utter disbelief, jaw wide open as she looked back and forth to Misty and Georgio. "I can't _believe_ it! So it _is_ true, you guys _are_ dating!"

"Yeah, that's why she had such a hard time letting me down," Georgio piped up. He seemed somewhat relieved, now that there was a real reason for his rejection. Casey was only further excited by more news from Georgio.

"Ooh, this is so exciting! You know what the best part is? _Ash_ just finished the Hoenn league, so he's _on his way back_ to the Kanto region like me! We could all go on a double date or something?"

"That sounds great!" Georgio managed a weak smile, not exactly sure how he felt about Casey's proposition, but feeling too polite to refuse it.

And suddenly, there was a the loud sound of a door slamming shut.

Casey jumped; startled. "What was that!?" she demanded to know.

Georgio turned behind him, realizing that no one was there.

"Oh, haha... Misty just left. I wonder if something was wrong?" His expression turned thoughtful, and he suddenly got the feeling that he was missing something really important.

Casey waved it off, however.

"Ah, who cares! She's probably just excited to see her boyfriend. So, which restaurant should I book reservations for?"


	2. Excuses, Excuses

**Notes: **I really want to get this over with before it gets too out of hand. xD Without further ado... second chapter! (This is short, but don't worry! I will lengthen them soon enough.)

&.

* * *

2.— Excuses, Excuses

Luckily, Misty got to Ash first.

_That's one thing gone right today._

"Hey, Mist!" Ash had greeted her cheerfully. "It sure has been a while! I didn't expect to see you here of all places, though, I mean Viridian City? I was just taking a break before going to rest of the way to Pallet Town and-"

Misty slapped her hand over his mouth, grabbed a fistful of his sweatshirt and dragged him off to the nearest diner. Ash was then released, panting for breath, at that.

She stared at him for a moment while he regained his breath. "You know people can breathe through their noses right?"

Ash's eyes widened a fraction before he turned around to glare at her. "I know that!" However, he added nothing more to his defensive quip. "Anyways, what's the big deal? If you didn't notice, we sort of abandoned Brock back there..."

"I know that," Misty said. Trying to distract herself of the topic at hand, she quickly ducked into a booth and motioned for Ash to do the same. A waitress dropped menus at their table, and Misty flipped hers open.

"You just wanted lunch?" Ash asked, slightly disbelieving. "Geez, lazing around at the gym all day must've really turned you into a grumpig..."

Misty growled and ground her heel into his foot. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" Ash sobbed to himself before adding quietly, "Lunch is fine."

After they ordered, a silence fell upon the table, and Misty realized she was stalling. She had to lay it all out on the table _now_ before things got out of hand.

"So the reason I visited you today... is something I will tell you... now." Misty cleared her throat and felt her hands clench into fists. She glanced up to meet Ash's inquiring eyes, realizing the mistake only afterwards when the pressure built up.

"At this rate, the food will be here and I'll be done eating," Ash dryly remarked with an unimpressed expression. Luckily, Misty's nervousness overrode her usual need to counter every single one of Ash's insults.

"Your food is here."

Ash and Misty both glanced up in a sort of surprise as the same waitress from before placed their respective platters of food before them.

"I was half right." Ash shrugged and grabbed a fork to dig in.

"Okay, look, here's the thing. While you were gone... a lot of stuff happened at the gym," Misty begin to explain. She took advantage of the pause to stir the straw in her drink idly and steel herself for what was to come.

"Stuff like what?" Ash asked after swallowing. He went right back into his food again.

"Stuff like... well, there was this guy named Georgio who asked me on a date and all..." Misty paused, and held her breath for Ash's reaction. Anything resembling a secretive hope in her mind crashed down when she saw Ash _smiling. _

"What a loser," Ash said, throwing Misty a teasing glance. His response would have seemed normal if not for the way his fork violently speared the next portion of his food. Misty, however, wasn't _that_ observant.

_Of course he doesn't care. What were you thinking!?_ Misty chided herself. And then she reminded herself who she was talking to.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that_—_"

"It's for the best, really—"

"And continue. See, there seems to be this... this _misconception _that you and I are... together... in a non-platonic sense..." Misty cleared her throat and started planning out her funeral, because she knew she was going to die.

"Platonics?" Ash raised an eyebrow. "You've lost me, Mist." He chugged down the remains of his soda before plunking the glass back down on the table. Now, his full attention was on her.

_Oh my Mew. Oh my effing Mew. I've got to make this dunce understand what's going on **now**._

"Long story short Casey kind of thinks that you and I are like _dating_ you know in the boyfriend-girlfriend sense and this was totally an accident but I don't want to seem stupid so can you please just pretend for one day please please please?"

It was comical, really. Ash sat at the table across from Misty, elbows resting on the table peacefully with an intent expression. Slowly, however, Ash begin to crack. First it was the eye twitch, then the sudden huge grin that flashed across his face... soon enough, something took over him and Ash burst out into laughter.

Though Misty was tempted to punch him in the face, she was also slightly relieved he had understood that garbled mess. At least Ash was good for something.

"That's so _ridiculous_!" Ash choked out, tears running down his face. "I mean, you could pass as my _brother_!"

Misty held back an annoyed grin. "Yeah, yeah, get it all out while you can, 'cause I hope you know now that this means you have to do it."

That seemed to snap him out of it. Expression stupefied, Ash's gaze darted frantically to Misty. "Wait, you're not serious, are you? I mean... why don't you just tell them the truth?"

"Well! I just..." Misty felt herself blush again. She couldn't possibly tell him that _she _lied, could she? No, that was out of the question. "It was... well, it happens to be a good excuse to get out of going out with Georgio!"

_I'm technically not lying, am I?_

"And so you're using _me_ as your excuse?" Ash's jutted a finger at himself, expression incredulous. He almost seemed offended.

Misty shrugged. "Why not?"

"That's so much _work_," Ash moaned, falling back into his seat. "I just got back from the league and everything. Can't you gimme a break?"

"_Never_."


	3. Brock Knows Your Secret

**Notes: **Woot! Third chapter. Thanks a lot for all the feedback! And to the question of Ash and Misty getting together: Hahaha! We'll have to find out, won't we? Don't worry, you won't have to wait for long, really.

**Next chapter**: Brock prepares Ash and Misty for their big fake date! Misty does _not_ approve of the dress! But it sure seems like Ash does.

&.

* * *

3._— _Brock Knows Your Secret

"This was a really bad idea."

Misty paused mid-pace to make a face.

_Am I really talking to myself? Have I sunk that low?_

Apparently, she had.

She resumed pacing in her room in a frenzy.

The issue here was that Misty was forced to wait here while Ash went back home to get ready. The more she paced, the more she realized this was a terrible idea.

It was _Ash_! What did he even know about dates, let alone anything in the romance department? And worse, what if he possibly _found out_?

_Found out about..._

Misty shook her head before the thought could continue. It was impossible. Ash was the most irritatingly daft, dense, and oblivious person she had ever met. He wouldn't understand her feelings even if she wrote them across a banner and then paraded with it around town.

_Thank Mew for that._

And yet, the whole prospect of this fake date only set her on edge. Ash was _Ash_. He was annoying, he was stupid, he was... amazing, smart, and caring. She hadn't seen him in forever, either. There was that.

It hadn't even been five minutes, and Misty was already forcing him into something. She sighed with the realization. She knew she really pushed Ash sometimes, but she liked to think it was because... she really cared about him. And she hoped he knew that.

_Now isn't the time to debate Ash's nonexistent feelings for me!_

Misty decided to snap out of it and go over to Pallet Town to meet up with him herself. Grabbing her bag off the hook and strapping it over her shoulders, she exited her room and made her way down the stairwell to the first floor.

"Why, hello there."

Misty was just locking the door when she quickly turned around to find a very familiar face grinning right at her.

"Brock!" Misty grinned gleefully before giving him a quick hug. "What are _you_ doing here?"

Brock frowned. "You know, I'm a _little_ disappointed you didn't even say a word to me earlier. I mean, you just grabbed Ash and left. What's up with that?"

"Nothing!" Misty hastily denied, sensing Brock's direction of topic. "I just needed to discuss something with him!"

Brock raised an eyebrow, suddenly getting a very suspicious look on his face. "And what was this _something_?"

"Um..." Misty debated on her answer. On one hand, she could easily lie. On the other hand, Brock could very easily _tell _she was lying.

_So basically I have no choice. Ugh. Damn you, Brock._

"It's a long story," Misty told him finally, lowering her head sadly.

Brock nodded as if agreeing with her. "Yeah, I know _that_. Apparently you and Ash are dating now?"

"_What!?__" _Misty shrieked.

Brock jumped back five feet in sheer horror. "At least, that's what I heard - I might be wrong -"

"Oh, you're wrong alright!" Misty closed the distance between them again to glare at him menacingly. "Who told you this? Has Ash been telling everyone this?"

"No, no," Brock answered, waving his hands. "He actually told me to keep it a secret. I'm the only one he told, apparently."

"First of all, we're only going on a _fake_ date," Misty corrected. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, sensing a very long day ahead of her.

Brock exhaled in disappointment. "What!? What a let down."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hmm?"

Brock glanced to her, and seeing her blushing face, suddenly grinned the grin of a thousand Satans. "Oh, I think you know what it means!"

"I _will _kill you, Brock!" Misty aimed a kick at his shin, but he dodged expertly from his years of practice. This only angered Misty further, and she proceeded to chase him around for the next ten minutes.

"Okay, okay, I call truce!" Brock fell to the ground while panting in exhaustion. Misty fell suit, thudding painfully onto his back. "Misty, you really are a handful..."

Misty sat up and dusted off her shorts. "Yeah, I know," she said with a smile.

"But seriously." Misty met Brock's gaze, which had suddenly darkened with seriousness. "Are you sure about this? I don't know the reason behind why you're doing this, but I know _you_, Misty. And I know how this could affect you too."

Whatever counter Misty was ready to fire back died in her throat when she realized Brock was absolutely right. There was no point in hiding _anything_ from him. He just... he just knew. She didn't blame him, though. Sometimes she could be as obvious as a big red neon sign.

_Once again, I'd like to thank the heavens above for making Ash an oblivious idiot. I think._

"I know what I'm doing Brock, it's fine. I'm only doing this because I sort of... accidentally lied to an admirer about me dating Ash to get him off my back."

Brock stared at her incredulously. "And you didn't think that would come back to bite you in the butt at _all_?"

"It was a MOMENT OF WEAKNESS."

"It was weakness, alright."

Brock decided to cease his commentary on Misty's love life after she attempted to hurt him once again. Had he forgotten how fiery this girl's temper could get? Apparently, travelling around with the much calmer May had caused him to think differently.

But then again, May had a nasty temper, too, especially when it came to that Drew fellow. While those two didn't exactly remind him of Ash and Misty, he was beginning to see the similarities.

Maybe, just maybe he could turn this date into something real. If there was anyone he knew best, it was Ash and Misty, and most of all, their obvious feelings for each other. They would never admit it, but it was something Brock noticed and had kept quiet about for the most part.

It was finally time. Time for these two _realize_. Or maybe just one of them to realize; the other was quite aware of her feelings even if she wasn't crazy about admitting them.

"So you going to Ash's house now?" Brock questioned her, following as she took the route into the Viridian Forest.

"Why, do you want to come on the date too?" Misty asked.

"No," Brock said. "I'll be your... love adviser or something."

"That's weird."

"No way. You and Ash can have an earpiece in your ear and I'll tell you what to do. It'll be like a spy mission or something!"

"Brock, the last thing I want is love advice from you."

"Ouch, Misty... Ouch."


End file.
